The Second Edition of Beowulf (History of the English Language)

If I had the "opportunity" to study the history of the English language over another subject I probably wouldn't take it. The history of a language doesn't draw my attention the way other historical topics do. Although it is surprising to me how much of the English language's development can be correlated to historical events, trends and fads that occurred in England. But what interested me most about the English language is that it has been heavily influenced by many other languages; including French, Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, German etc. Basically the English language is a jumble of other languages. Through all four of the time periods different influences are present.

Old English (450-1100)
During this time period, English was actually called Englisc, and was spoken by the Anglo-Saxons in England. Obviously this language was very different from modern English. These people learned the Roman language and symbols (because the Romans had conquered Britain for three and a half centuries) and started the development of the English language. Not many pieces of literature have survived from this period, however a very famous poem, known as Beowulf, did. Since Old English is drastically different from how we speak it today, I found this poem hard to read and understand. After learning about the storyline, it was easy to see that this poem has the basic story of almost every adventure story. A hero sets out on a journey, and has to defeat the bad guy to get the prize/ treasure. In the "sequel", that hero has to go on harder journey to fight a tougher villain and receive an even bigger prize. This idea is a basic tale can be vamped and altered slightly to derive stories such as Iron man, Spider man, and The Lord of the Rings. To me, it is very interesting how such an old tale can be the basis for the plot of many popular stories today.

                            

Middle English (1100-1500)
The Norman's invaded and conquered England, leading to a major influx of French into the courts and government. French was spoken in the upper ruling classes of the society, and Old English was continued to be spoken in the lower classes. Naturally, many French words became part of the English language, which is interesting to me because many French words are still a part of the English today. these words include; painter, dance, mansion, velocity, pork, etc.

Chaucer was a pretty funny guy, or so I learned, who wrote a series of books called The Canterbury Tales. The fact that he used satire in his stories shows that English was becoming more advanced. Some of the stories we learned about were actually funny, compared a lot of the other literature we are made to read in English classes.


Early Modern English (1500-1800)
Students of the Old English and Middle English periods were lucky. Lucky they didn't have to learn spelling in school, especially since I personally am not a spelling bee champion. However, in this period, spelling started to become standardized, as writing was printed and sold. Perhaps if it weren't for William Caxton and his printing press I wouldn't have had to ever write a dictee!!

During this period, a popular fad was reading and/or writing sonnets. Another negative thing that came from this time period, Shakespeare's writing! Just kidding, but he did have a major influence on the English language by writing sonnets that people wanted to learn to read and recite. This helped popularize the language. I find sonnets can be a very beautiful way of writing, and expressing different feelings, but they wouldn't be as popular in today's society. Shakespeare's popularity still continues to today, although I am assuming he has attracted more critics over time (mainly high school students).

Present Day English (1800- Today)
English has obviously changed and developed a lot in the past 1500 years. While most of English is set in stone, new words are still being added to the English language every year. There has also been the addition of many slang terms, which may or may not be in the dictionary, but are very common in the language. With texting, computers, and new technology also come new words. Texting has led to more abbreviations and short forms for words. I like the ability to shorten up words in texts, emails, and note taking. Some people would say that these terms are ruining the language; terms like "rachet", "swerve", "swag" etc.To me these terms are only trends trends that eventually pass over. They are part of informal English.



Many people may not find English the prettiest sounding language or easiest to learn, however it has become a very universal language, being the language of business. While the history of the English language isn't my favourite topic, I did find many aspects of it interesting.